Indian incumbent operator Bharti Airtel has blamed forex losses for a 29% slump in September quarter profit to 5.12 billion rupees ($83.6 million).
Total revenue grew a solid 10% to 213.2 billion rupees, but the company booked foreign exchange losses of 3.42 billion rupees due to the ongoing depreciation of the Indian rupee.
Airtel's consolidated mobile data revenue more than doubled year-on-year to 15.3 billion rupees, with the segment accounting for nearly 40% of the operator's revenue growth for the quarter.
Revenue from the group's South Asian operations, including Airtel Bangladesh, increased 54.4%, while net revenue from the company's operations in 17 African nations grew 6.2% year-on-year.
Commenting on the results, Bharti Airtel chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal said the figures prove that mobile internet “is now a major engine of growth for Airtel across all geographies. [Meanwhile,] the revenue growth in Africa reflects the inherent potential in the world's most promising continent.”
Airtel ended the quarter with over 280 million total subscribers, including 268.1 million to mobile services. Around 193.5 million of its mobile customers hail from India, and 66.3 million from Africa.
The operator also shaved its net debt to ebitda ratio to 2.18 times, from 2.59 times a year earlier.